Neighborhood Association Seeks Help From County To Maintain

Neighborhood Association Seeks Help From County To Maintain 

By David Howell

Editor

COFFEEVILLE – Supervisors fielded a request from property owners in Deer-wood Park Subdivision for road repairs on almost two miles of private roads in their subdivision during a recessed meeting held at the Coffeeville courthouse Monday morning.

The spokesperson for the group, Richard Powell, told county officials that 28 of the property owners in the subdivision met last Saturday and were in agreement to approach the county for assistance. The subdivision is located in District 4, off of Hwy. 32 near U.S. Corps owned property at Enid Lake.

“Before the county can do any work on the roads or right-of-way the county has to own it or have a right-of-way,” Board Attorney John Crow said, explaining the state’s constitution prohibits work on private property. Crow also said the roads would have to meet the county’s specifications before the county could assume ownership. Crow added that County Engineer Karl Grubb would inspect the roads and make a recommendation to county officials.

“Those roads in Deerwood Park are a lot better than most roads Tim (District 4 Supervisor Timothy Booker) has in his district,” District 3 Supervision Lee McMinn noted during the discussion.

“I don’t think Tim is going to be in a position to maintain them as well in the future as y’all have maintained them,” McMinn added, explaining that Booker inherited a tight budget when he took office at the start of the year.

“You are right,” Booker agreed.

“If we turned the roads over to the county, how long would it be before there would be some maintenance on them?” Powell questioned.

“That is up to this man right here, he has got a major uphill battle he is fighting, money-wise,” McMinn answered, pointing to Booker.

“What are our existing taxes going for right now?” Powell asked.

“Schools, roads, courthouses, everything that is in the county, it is not just roads. Forty-five percent of the general fund goes to education in this county,” Crow answered.

“Law enforcement, health care, health department, mental health,” Chancery Clerk Amy McMinn added.

The topic also spawned a second question as landowner Don Clark asked if the county would connect an adjacent public road, CR 27, to the roads in the subdivision if the roads were deeded to the county.

“We as a subdivision would not want it tied in, if at all possible,” Powell added.

“Chances are, it probably would not. But the potential exists in the future. If the county has that ownership and felt it necessary because of other development, that potential exists,” Board President Cayce Washington answered.

As discussion on the topic came to a close, Washington reiterated the necessary steps to convert the private roads to county roads.

“If it is something the homeowners association and Tim (Booker) can come to terms on, it would be a matter of y’all petition through counsel to turn these roads over. Then the engineer would need to review it,” Washington advised.

Clark said the information presented in Monday’s meeting would be relayed to the landowners in the subdivision to determine the next step.